Goal-based dynamic modifications to user interface content

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are presented for dynamically modifying electronic content presented on a user device by third-party content providers based on goals associated with one or more entities. A content modification system may receive inputs related to goals for a user. The content modification system may synthesize the goals associated with the user. When the user uses a user device to request content from a third-party server, the content modification system may obtain the content and extract items included within the content. The content modification system may modify the content based on the synthesized goals, such as re-arranging the items, highlighting some of the items, or adding and/or removing items. The content modification system may cause the user device to present the modified content.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present invention is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 17/159,750, filed Jan. 27, 2021, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present specification generally relates to presentation ofelectronic content, and more specifically, to dynamically modifyingdisplayable electronic content according to various embodiments of thedisclosure.

RELATED ART

As abundant of information is becoming vastly available on the Internet,the ability to distill the information to only those that are relevantto a user becomes essential. In this regard, websites that providecontent to users (e.g., news media website, online merchants that offerproducts/services for sale, etc.) usually provide search and/orfiltering tools that enable a user to retrieve and/or filter the contenton the websites. For example, an online merchant that offers productsfor sale may enable the user to search for relevant products based on aset of criteria such as a description, a price range, an attribute suchas colors, sizes, and other criteria. In some cases, the online merchantmay also enable the user to sort the filtered products based on one ormore factors, such as relevance, price, user review, etc.

These search and filtering tools implemented on the content providerwebsites can be useful to the user when the criteria used by thewebsites for searching and/or filtering matches the criteria that arerelevant to the user. However, when there is a mismatch of search and/orfiltering criteria, the website may not be able to present content thatis relevant to the user even with the search and filtering tools. Forexample, the user may be interested in fair-trade products and/or foodproducts that are safe for a specific allergy condition. If the website's search/filtering tools do not include a fair-trade option and/orthe specific allergy condition as search criteria, the content providedby the website may not be relevant to the user, even with the use ofother search and filtering tools provided by the website. Furthermore,conventional search/filtering functions provided on websites likelyrequire the user to provide specific attributes for the search (e.g.,keywords, food ingredients of a food product, author/title of a book,etc.) and does not take into account the goals and/or objectives thatthe user tries to achieve. Thus, there is a need for providing apersonalized search and filtering platform for dynamically modifyingcontent for presentation to users.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system that includesan electronic transaction system according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a content modification moduleaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a networked graph showing connections between itemsin a displayable content and goals according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process of dynamically modifyingdisplayable electronic content according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a system for implementing a deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are bestunderstood by referring to the detailed description that follows. Itshould be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identifylike elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, whereinshowings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of thepresent disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure includes methods and systems for dynamicallymodifying electronic content presented on a user device by third-partycontent providers based on goals associated with a user of the userdevice. As discussed above, the search and filtering tools implementedon or by websites associated with the third-party content providers maybe limited, as these websites can only perform the search and filteringfunctions based on a limited set of criteria and searching algorithmsgenerated by the third-party content providers, and not the user. Thus,while the third-party content providers may attempt to generate the setof criteria to satisfy the general needs of users of the website, thecriteria used for searching and filtering may not be personalized foreach individual user. When the interest of a user does not align withthe set of criteria used by the search tools of the third-party contentproviders, the websites may not provide content that is relevant to theuser. For example, the user may be interested in viewing (or making apurchase of) only food items that have been involved in fair tradeduring the supply-chain process or food items that are safe for peoplehaving a specific allergy condition. If the website of a third-partycontent provider does not allow searching and/or filtering based onthese criteria, the user would not be able to obtain relevant searchresults using the search/filtering tool of the website. Even if thewebsite enables a search based on such criteria (e.g., allowing the userto input free form search descriptors, etc.), the search result maystill not be desirable as the website may not present only items thatsatisfy the user's specific criteria (e.g., “fair trade” and/or “safefor allergy” in the above example), but include also results that do notsatisfy that specific criteria. In other words, items that satisfy thoseuser-defined criteria may be presented in the mix of other items that donot satisfy the user-defined criteria. As such, the user is stillrequired to sift through each and every item before making a purchase.

In another example, the user may desire to purchase items that wouldhelp the user in making progress toward a goal. The goal can be ahealth-related goal (e.g., losing weight, healthy for hearts, gainingbody mass, etc.), an academic or career goal (e.g., proficient in acertain technology area or programming language, etc.), a stylistic goal(e.g., décor for an event such as a baby shower having a particulartheme), or other type of goal. However, not knowing how to translate thegoals into specific item attributes and/or the progress of the usertoward the goal, the search/filtering tool of the website may not beable to produce results that are relevant to the user.

To address these problems, according to various embodiments of thedisclosure, a content modification system may modify content presentedon a user device (e.g., a search result performed by a third-partycontent provider, etc.) based on goals associated with a user of theuser device. In some embodiments, the content modification system mayallow the user to provide one or more goals that the user would like toachieve. The goals can be, as non-limiting example, a personal goal(e.g., a health-related goal, a fitness-related goal, a financial goal,a social-awareness goal, etc.), a work-related goal (e.g., becoming amanager, becoming an expert in a technical area, etc.), or a projectgoal (e.g., organizing a baby shower, decorating the house for afestivity, etc.). The content modification system may store the one ormore goals of the user in association with a user account of the user.Once the goals are associated with the user account, the contentmodification system may use the goals of the user to modify content thatis presented on a user device associated with the user.

In this regard, the content modification system may detect that a userdevice of the user has obtained displayable data from a third-partywebsite. The third-party website may be associated with a third-partycontent provider, which may be an entity that provides various contentto users such as a news media, a library, a research institute, anonline merchant, etc. The third-party website may provide asearch/filtering tool that enables the user to search for content thatis available within the third-party website (e.g., by providing a textinput box that can receive one or more keywords from the user, byproviding a selection tool that can receive selections of one or morepredetermined options from the user, etc.). For example, if thethird-party website is associated with a library or research institute,the user may search for academic papers and/or articles based on a setof search criteria (e.g., technical areas, keywords, a time (or a timerange) when the papers/articles are published, names of authors, etc.).In another example where the third-party website is associated with anonline merchant, the user may search for products (e.g., goods,services, etc.) available for sale by the online merchant based on a setof search criteria. For example, the user may browse the third-partywebsite for a type of food (e.g., pasta, dumplings, etc.) or a type ofbook (e.g., books on Java® programming, books on cloud programming,books on management, etc.). The user may provide inputs associated withthe set of search criteria through the third-party website.

Upon receiving the inputs from the user, the third-party website mayaccess a third-party database that stores content associated withmultiple items (e.g., all of the items that are offered for sale by theonline merchant, all of the papers and articles stored within thelibrary or research institute, etc.). The third-party website may thenquery the third-party database based on the set of search criteria toretrieve the set of items. The third-party website may generate thedisplayable content (e.g., a webpage) to include the set of items, andmay transmit the displayable content to the user device.

In some embodiments, the content modification system may include aplug-in or an application that is linked to a content browsingapplication such as a web browser of the user device. Through theplug-in or application, the content modification system may detect thatdisplayable content is being retrieved by the user device from athird-party website (e.g., based on the search criteria inputs providedby the user). The displayable content may include a set of itemsassociated with the set of search criteria provided by the user. Asdiscussed herein, the displayable content provided by the third-partycontent provider may include items that are not relevant or of interestto the user for the particular search. Furthermore, the relevant itemsthat are presented on the user device may be intermingled with theirrelevant items, which makes it a challenge for the user todifferentiate relevant items from irrelevant items in the displayablecontent.

In some embodiments, upon detecting that displayable content is obtainedby the user device from the third-party website, the contentmodification system may determine a set of criteria based on the one ormore goals of the user and the items included in the displayablecontent. For example, the content modification system may parse thedisplayable content (e.g., the HTML code of a webpage) to determine acategory of the items included in the displayable content. The contentmodification system may then determine a set of criteria for filteringthe items based on the one or more goals of the user and the category.

In some embodiments, the content modification system may first determinespecific targets based on the one or more goals. For example, the usermay specify, as part of a health goal, a daily maximum sodium intake, adaily maximum calories intake, etc. The user may also specify a set ofhealth condition and/or dietary restrictions (e.g., need gluten-freediet, cannot ingest nuts, etc.). Thus, when the category of the itemsincluded in the displayable content includes food items, the contentmodification system may generate a set of criteria that includes asodium threshold, a calories threshold, a gluten restriction, a nutrestriction, etc.

In some embodiments, the content modification system may determine theset of criteria further based on a progress of the user toward the goal.For example, if the content modification system detects that the userhas already ingested food with a certain amount of sodium and calories,the content modification system may adjust the set of criteria bychanging the sodium and calories thresholds based on the user's progresstoward the health goal.

In another example, the one or more goals may include a career goal ofbecoming proficient in cloud programming, and may specify specifictargets, such as reaching a certain level of proficiency in Javaprogramming for cloud computing and a certain level of proficiency inC++ programming for cloud computing. The content modification system maythen generate a set of criteria that includes a combination of keywordssuch as a combination of “cloud” and “Java,” and another combination of“cloud” and “C++.” As such, the content modification system may selectitems, from the items in the displayable content, that include both ofthe keywords “cloud” and “Java,” or both of the keywords “cloud” and“C++.” Based on this set of criteria, items that are directed to cloudcomputing in Python would not satisfy the search criteria.

Similar to the example above, the content modification system may tracka progress of the user (e.g., a buying history of the user) and mayadjust the set of criteria based on the progress. For example, if theuser has purchased multiple books on cloud programming in Java, thecontent modification system may determine that the user has madesubstantial progress towards being proficient in cloud programming usingJava, but not much progress made towards being proficient in cloudprogramming using C++. Thus, the content modification system may adjustthe set of criteria, for example, by eliminating the combination ofkeywords “cloud” and “Java” or assigning a larger weight for thecombination “cloud” and “C++” than the weight for the combination“cloud” and “Java.”

In some embodiments, the content modification system may integratemultiple goals to determine the set of criteria. The multiple goals maybe provided by the same user, or from different users. Consider ascenario where the user works at an organization. The user may beassociated with a team responsible for developing software products forthe organization. The user may have a career goal to become proficientin computer programming in various programming languages, which mayinclude Java, C++, Python, etc. The team, on the other hand, is taskedby the organization to develop a software product using Java. Thus, theteam may set a goal for every team member to become proficient in Java.The organization that the user works for may decide to change thedirection of their products to cloud-based products. Thus, theorganization may set a goal for every employee to become proficient incloud programming. In this example, three different sets of goals—apersonal career goal of the user, a team goal, and an organizationgoal—may all be associated with the user.

When the content modification system detects that a displayable contentis retrieved by the user device of the user from a third-party website,the content modification system may determine a set of criteria based onthe multiple goals. To determine the set of content, the contentmodification system may first synthesize the goals. In some embodiments,the content modification system may assign weights to different goals.The weights assigned to the goals may be determined based on the originof the goals. For example, using the example discussed above where theuser works at an organization, the goal(s) from the organization mayhave the highest weight, the goal(s) from the team may have a lessweight than the goal(s) from the organization, and the goal(s) directlyfrom the user may have the least weight. Thus, if the goals from thedifferent origins are conflicting, the goals with a higher weight wouldtrump the goals with a lower weight.

In addition, the content modification system may assign weights to thekeywords (or keyword combinations) based on the number of goals (andwhich goals) that keywords (or keyword combinations) are associated. Forexample, the keyword combination “cloud” and “programming” may gotowards both the organization goal of becoming proficient in cloudcomputer technology and also the user's personal goal of becomingproficient in programming languages. Thus, such a keyword combinationmay be assigned a higher weight than another keyword that is onlyassociated with one of the goals.

In some embodiments, upon determining the set of criteria, the contentmodification system may use the set of criteria to modify thedisplayable content. The content modification system may obtain a listof items included in the displayable content by parsing the displayablecontent (e.g., the HTML code of the webpage). The content modificationmay determine items that satisfy the set of criteria and items that donot satisfy the set of criteria. The content modification system maymodify the displayable content by highlighting those items within thedisplayable content (e.g., inserting a marker such as a star next toeach of the items that satisfy the set of criteria, etc.).

In some embodiments, the content modification system may rank the itemsincluded in the displayable content based on the set of criteriadetermined for the user. For example, the items that satisfy morecriteria within the set of criteria may be ranked higher than items thatsatisfy less criteria within the set of criteria. The contentmodification system may then modify the displayable content byre-arranging the items included within the displayable content based onthe ranking, such that the items that rank higher may appear higher inthe displayable content than items that rank lower.

In some embodiments, the content modification system may retrieveadditional items to be added to the displayable content. For example,the third-party website may obtain, based on the search criteriaobtained from the interaction with the user, a set of items as thesearch result. The third-party website may be configured to display alimited number of items (e.g., 20, 40, etc.) at a time, and the user mayview additional items by browsing to another webpage of the third-partywebsite. For example, the displayable content obtained by the userdevice from the third-party provider may only include a subset of theset of items. The content modification system may detect that additionalitems may be obtained from another webpage of the third-party website(e.g., a next webpage) by selecting a button (e.g., a link)corresponding to the next webpage based on parsing the displayablecontent. The content modification system may use the link to obtain thenext webpage (e.g., use the plug-in to transmit an HTTP request based onthe link), and may extract the additional items from the next webpage.In some embodiments, the content modification system may continue totraverse the webpages to extract all of the items from the search resultof the third-party website. The content modification system may rank allof the items based on the set of criteria and may re-arrange the itemsin the displayable content based on the ranking. Since some of thehigh-ranking items may be items not from the first webpage (e.g., thedisplayable content), but from subsequent webpages, of the third-partywebsite, the content modification system may add items from thesubsequent webpages to the displayable content (and may remove some ofthe lower-ranking items from the displayable content) before presentingthe displayable content on the user device.

In some embodiments, for the items that are considered relevant to theuser based on the set of criteria, the content modification system maydetermine an order for advancing toward the goal(s) of the user. Forexample, when the user's goal is becoming proficient in Java, thecontent modification system may select items (e.g., books, trainingmaterials, etc.) on Java programming for the user. However, those itemson Java programming may not have the same relevancy to the user as theymay target viewers at different proficiency levels in Java programming.Thus, the content modification system may first determine a progress ofthe user toward the goal (e.g., how proficient the user is at Javaprogramming), for example, based on a content access history (e.g.,which item has the user accessed/purchased in the past). The contentmodification system may filter out items that are no longer relevant tothe user based on the user's progress (e.g., items that target viewersat a lower proficiency level than the user). In addition, the contentmodification system may determine a path for advancing toward the goalbased on the items that are considered relevant to the user. Forexample, the content modification system may determine an order for theitems that the user should access to achieve the goal. In this example,the order of the items may be a progression of proficiency in Javaprogramming. The content modification system may modify the displayablecontent to indicate the order of the items (e.g., by placing a numbercorresponding to the order next to the item, etc.). This way, not onlywould the user know which item is most relevant to the user based on theuser's current progress toward the goal, the user would also know whatitems the user should access in the future based on the goal.

FIG. 1 illustrates a networked system 100, within which the contentmodification system may be implemented according to one embodiment ofthe disclosure. Note that the present techniques may be applied in manydifferent computing and technological environments, however, and are notlimited to those shown in the figures. The networked system 100 includesa service provider server 130, a merchant server 120, and user devices110, 180, and 190 that may be communicatively coupled with each othervia a network 160. The network 160, in one embodiment, may beimplemented as a single network or a combination of multiple networks.For example, in various embodiments, the network 160 may include theInternet and/or one or more intranets, landline networks, wirelessnetworks, and/or other appropriate types of communication networks. Inanother example, the network 160 may comprise a wirelesstelecommunications network (e.g., cellular phone network) adapted tocommunicate with other communication networks, such as the Internet.

The user device 110, in one embodiment, may be utilized by a user 140 tointeract with the merchant server 120 and/or the service provider server130 over the network 160. For example, the user 140 may use the userdevice 110 to conduct an online transaction with the merchant server 120via websites hosted by, or mobile applications associated with, themerchant server 120. The user 140 may also log in to a user account toaccess account services or conduct electronic transactions (e.g.,account transfers or payments) with the service provider server 130. Theuser device 110, in various embodiments, may be implemented using anyappropriate combination of hardware and/or software configured for wiredand/or wireless communication over the network 160. In variousimplementations, the user device 110 may include at least one of awireless cellular phone, wearable computing device, PC, laptop, etc.

The user device 110, in one embodiment, includes a user interface (UI)application 112 (e.g., a web browser, a mobile payment application,etc.), which may be utilized by the user 140 to interact with themerchant server 120 and/or the service provider server 130 over thenetwork 160. In one implementation, the UI application 112 includes asoftware program (e.g., a mobile application) that provides a graphicaluser interface (GUI) for the user 140 to interface and communicate withthe service provider server 130, and/or the merchant server 120 via thenetwork 160. In another implementation, the UI application 112 includesa browser module that provides a network interface to browse informationavailable over the network 160. For example, the UI application 112 maybe implemented, in part, as a web browser to view information availableover the network 160.

The user device 110, in various embodiments, may include a plug-inapplication 116 associated with the content modification system. Theplug-in application 116 may be integrated with the UI application 112 toprovide the UI application 112 additional functionalities associatedwith the content modification system. For example, the plug-inapplication 116 may monitor activities of the UI application 112 (e.g.,content request such as HTTP request transmitted by the UI application112 to a third-party server such as the merchant server 120, displayablecontent received by the UI application 112 from a third-party serversuch as the merchant server 120, etc.). Thus, the plug-in application116 may detect that displayable content that includes a set of items isobtained by the UI application 112 from a third-party server (e.g., themerchant server 120). In response to detecting that the displayablecontent is obtained by the UI application 112, the plug-in application116 may modify the content in the displayable content using thetechniques disclosed herein and cause the UI application 112 to presentthe modified displayable content on the user device 110.

The user device 110, in one embodiment, may include at least one useridentifier 114, which may be implemented, for example, as operatingsystem registry entries, cookies associated with the UI application 112,identifiers associated with hardware of the user device 110 (e.g., amedia control access (MAC) address), or various other appropriateidentifiers. In various implementations, the identifier 114 may bepassed with a user login request to the service provider server 130 viathe network 160, and the identifier 114 may be used by the serviceprovider server 130 to associate the user 140 with a particular useraccount (e.g., and a particular profile) maintained by the serviceprovider server 130.

In various implementations, the user 140 is able to input data andinformation into an input component (e.g., a keyboard) of the userdevice 110. For example, the user 140 may use the input component tointeract with the UI application 112 (e.g., to retrieve content fromthird-party servers such as the merchant server 120, to provide inputsrelated to a goal to the service provider server 130, etc.).

Each of the user devices 180 and 190 may be associated with the sameuser 140 or different users and may include similar components as theuser device 110 to perform the functions described herein. While onlythree user devices 110, 180, and 190 are shown in FIG. 1 , it has beencontemplated that more than three user devices, each associated with adifferent user, may be connected to the merchant server 120, the serviceprovider server 130, via the network 160.

The merchant server 120, in various embodiments, may be maintained by abusiness entity (or in some cases, by a partner of a business entitythat processes transactions on behalf of business entity). Examples ofbusiness entities include merchants, resource information providers,utility providers, real estate management providers, social networkingplatforms, etc., which offer various items for viewing, accessing,and/or purchasing, and process payments for the purchases. As shown, themerchant server 120 may include a merchant database 124 for identifyingavailable items, which may be made available to the user devices 110,180, and 190 for viewing and purchase by the user.

The merchant server 120, in one embodiment, may include a marketplaceapplication or server 122, which may be configured to provideinformation (e.g., displayable content) over the network 160 to the UIapplication 112 of the user devices 110, 180, and 190. In oneembodiment, the marketplace application 122 may include a web serverthat hosts a merchant website for the merchant. For example, the user140 of the user device 110 may interact with the marketplace application122 through the UI application 112 over the network 160 to search andview various items available for access and/or purchase in the merchantdatabase 124. The merchant server 120, in one embodiment, may include atleast one merchant identifier 126, which may be included as part of theone or more items made available for purchase so that, e.g., particularitems are associated with the particular merchants. In oneimplementation, the merchant identifier 126 may include one or moreattributes and/or parameters related to the merchant, such as businessand banking information. The merchant identifier 126 may includeattributes related to the merchant server 120, such as identificationinformation (e.g., a serial number, a location address, GPS coordinates,a network identification number, etc.).

While only one merchant server 120 is shown in FIG. 1 , it has beencontemplated that multiple merchant servers, each associated with adifferent merchant, may be connected to the user devices 110, 180, and190 and the service provider server 130 via the network 160.

The service provider server 130, in one embodiment, may be maintained bya transaction processing entity or an online service provider, which mayprovide processing for electronic transactions between the users of theuser devices 110, 180, and 190, and one or more merchants or other typesof payees. As such, the service provider server 130 may include aservice application 138, which may be adapted to interact with the userdevices 110, 180, and 190, and/or the merchant server 120 over thenetwork 160 to facilitate the searching, selection, purchase, payment ofitems, and/or other services offered by the service provider server 130.In one example, the service provider server 130 may be provided byPayPal®, Inc., of San Jose, Calif., USA, and/or one or more serviceentities or a respective intermediary that may provide multiple point ofsale devices at various locations to facilitate transaction routingsbetween merchants and, for example, service entities.

In some embodiments, the service application 138 may include a paymentprocessing application (not shown) for processing purchases and/orpayments for electronic transactions between a user and a merchant orbetween any two entities (e.g., between two users, etc.). In oneimplementation, the payment processing application assists withresolving electronic transactions through validation, delivery, andsettlement. As such, the payment processing application settlesindebtedness between a user and a merchant, wherein accounts may bedirectly and/or automatically debited and/or credited of monetary fundsin a manner as accepted by the banking industry.

The service provider server 130 may also include an interface server 134that is configured to serve content (e.g., web content) to users andinteract with users. For example, the interface server 134 may include aweb server configured to serve web content in response to HTTP requests.In another example, the interface server 134 may include an applicationserver configured to interact with a corresponding application (e.g., aservice provider mobile application) installed on the user device 110via one or more protocols (e.g., RESTAPI, SOAP, etc.). As such, theinterface server 134 may include pre-generated electronic content readyto be served to users. For example, the interface server 134 may store alog-in page and is configured to serve the log-in page to users forlogging into user accounts of the users to access various serviceprovided by the service provider server 130. The interface server 134may also include other electronic pages associated with the differentservices (e.g., electronic transaction services, etc.) offered by theservice provider server 130. As a result, a user (e.g., the user 140 ora merchant associated with the merchant server 120, etc.) may access auser account associated with the user and access various servicesoffered by the service provider server 130, by generating HTTP requestsdirected at the service provider server 130. In some embodiments, thefragment module integration framework may be implemented within or inassociation with the interface server 134.

The service provider server 130, in one embodiment, may be configured tomaintain one or more user accounts and merchant accounts in an accountdatabase 136, each of which may be associated with a profile and mayinclude account information associated with one or more individual users(e.g., the user 140 associated with user device 110) and merchants. Forexample, account information may include private financial informationof users and merchants, such as one or more account numbers, passwords,credit card information, banking information, digital wallets used, orother types of financial information, transaction history, InternetProtocol (IP) addresses, device information associated with the useraccount. In certain embodiments, account information also includes userpurchase profile information such as account funding options and paymentoptions associated with the user, payment information, receipts, andother information collected in response to completed funding and/orpayment transactions.

In one implementation, a user may have identity attributes stored withthe service provider server 130, and the user may have credentials toauthenticate or verify identity with the service provider server 130.User attributes may include personal information, banking informationand/or funding sources. In various aspects, the user attributes may bepassed to the service provider server 130 as part of a login, search,selection, purchase, and/or payment request, and the user attributes maybe utilized by the service provider server 130 to associate the userwith one or more particular user accounts maintained by the serviceprovider server 130 and used to determine the authenticity of a requestfrom a user device.

In various embodiments, the service provider server 130 includes acontent modification module 132 that implements at least part of thecontent modification system as discussed herein. The contentmodification module 132 may communicate with the user devices 110, 180,and 190, and the plug-in application 116 executed on the user devices toprovide the content modification functionalities disclosed herein. Forexample, the user 140 may register a user account with the serviceprovider server through an interface provided by the service providerserver 130. Once a user account is created, the content modificationmodule 132 may enable the user 140 to provide inputs corresponding toone or more goals. The content modification module 132 may associate theone or more goals with the user account. In some embodiments, thecontent modification module 132 may also enable other users (e.g., usersof user devices 180, 190, etc.) to provide inputs corresponding to oneor more goals for the user 140. As such, the content modification module132 may associate goals provided by the user 140, and also goalsprovided by other users (or entities) with the user account of the user140.

When the plug-in application 116 detects that displayable content isobtained by the UI application 112 of the user device 110 from athird-party server, the plug-in application 116 and/or the contentmodification module 132 may determine a set of criteria based on thegoals associated with the user account and a category of the itemsincluded in the displayable content. The plug-in application 116 and/orthe content modification module 132 may modify the displayable contentbased on the set of criteria and may cause the UI application 112 topresent the modified displayable content to the user 140.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of the content modification module132 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The contentmodification module 132 includes a goal manager 202, a content scrapingmodule 204, a criteria determination module 206, a progressdetermination module 208, and a goal synthesizing module 210. The goalmanager 202 may provide, through the interface server 134, a userinterface that enables a user (e.g., the user 140) to provide inputscorresponding to one or more goals. For example, the goal manager 202may provide different goal options for the user 140 to select, such as ahealthy-diet goal (e.g., a low sugar diet, a low calories diet, etc.), asocial goal (e.g., support fair-trade products, support green products,etc.), an exercise goal, an academic goal (e.g., advance in a certainfield such as programming, medicine, etc.), a career goal (e.g., to bein a certain position within an organization, etc.), or other types ofgoals. Once the user 140 has selected a particular goal, the goalmanager 202 may enable the user, through the user interface, to providespecific targets for the goal. The target may include measurable metricsassociated with the goal (e.g., a maximum calories input per day, acertain proficiency level in an academic field such as a programminglanguage or a particular technical area, etc.).

As discussed herein, multiple users may be enabled to provide goals inassociation with a single user account. For example, the user 140 mayspecify to the content modification module 132 which other users areallowed to add goals for the user 140. Different users (e.g., users ofthe user devices 180 and 190) may be allowed to add different types ofgoals for the user 140. For example, people from the organization thatthe user 140 works at may be allowed to add career goals or academicgoals for the user account, while a family member of the user 140 may beallowed to add health goals to the user account.

Based on inputs from different users for the same user account, multiplegoals (possibly from the same or different users) that correspond to thesame goal type (e.g., a career goal type, a health goal type, etc.) maybe associated with that same user account. For example, the user 140 maybe a software engineer working at a software company. The user 140 mayprovide inputs to the content modification module 132 indicating apersonal self-improvement goal of being proficient in general computerprogramming. Specifically, the user 140 may provide specific targets ofbeing at a certain proficiency level for various programming languagessuch as C++, Python, and Java. The team that the user 140 belongs in atthe software company may be developing software products using aparticular programming language (e.g., Java). Thus, the team may provideinputs to the content modification module 132 indicating aself-improvement goal of being proficient in Java programming for useraccounts associated with the team members (including the user 140). Onthe other hand, the software company may be changing the direction ofits products by moving many of its software products to cloud-basedsoftware products. Thus, the software company may provide inputs to thecontent modification module 132 indicating a self-improvement goal ofbecoming proficient in cloud computing for user accounts associated withthe software company (including the user 140).

Since there might be multiple goals or targets toward the same goaltype, the goal synthesizing module 210 may synthesize the goals for theuser 140. In some embodiments, the goal synthesizing module 210 maydetermine a hierarchy of goals for the user 140 based on the origins ofthe goals. Using the example above, the goal synthesizing module 210 maydetermine that the goal(s) from the organization (e.g., the softwarecompany) is higher in a hierarchy than the goal(s) from the team. Thegoal synthesizing module 210 may also determine that the goal(s) fromthe team is higher in the hierarchy than the goal(s) from the user 140.The hierarchical structure of goals may then be used by the criteriadetermination module 206 to filter and/or rank the items in adisplayable content for the user 140. In another example, health goalsprovided by a doctor may be higher in rank or hierarchy than heal goalsfrom the user 140 or from a relative of the user 140. Thus, hierarchy ofgoals/targets provided by different users for the same user 140 may bebased on the type of goal.

In some embodiments, the progress determination module 208 may determinea progress of the user 140 toward each of the goals associated with theuser account. For example, when the goals are related to knowledge(e.g., programming proficiency, etc.), the progress determination module208 may determine the progress for the goals based on different factors,such as an education, certificate(s) obtained by the user 140, and pastaccess of educational content such as past purchases of books, pastviewing of articles, etc. When the goals are health-related, theprogress determination module 208 may determine the progress for thegoals based on biometrics information such as blood pressure,cholesterol levels, etc. and past food intake (e.g., an amount ofcalories already taken within the day, an amount of sodium already takenwithin the day, etc.).

In some embodiments, the goal manager 202 may also enable, through theuser interface, the user 140 to download the plug-in application 116associated with the content modification system to the user device 110,if the plug-in application 116 is not already installed on the userdevice 110. The plug-in application 116, once installed on the userdevice 110, may work with the content modification module 132 to providethe content modification functionalities as described herein. Forexample, since the plug-in application 116 is connected with the UIapplication 112, the plug-in application 116 may monitor activities ofthe UI application 112. In some embodiments, the plug-in application 116may operate in an inactive state where the plug-in application 116 maypassively listen to (e.g., monitor) various activities of UI application112, which may include interactions between the UI application 112 andthe user 140, and interactions between the UI application 112 andthird-party servers (e.g., the merchant server 120).

While monitoring the activities, the plug-in application 116 may detecta request for displayable content transmitted from the UI application112 to a third-party server (e.g., the merchant server 120). The requestmay involve requesting one or more items based on a first set ofcriteria. The first set of criteria may be provided by the user 140through an interface (e.g., a webpage) associated with the third-partyserver. For example, the user 140 may use the UI application 112 tobrowse a website of the third-party server (e.g., a merchant website).The user 140 may submit a request, through the website, to view itemsoffered by the merchant website. In one particular example, the merchantwebsite may be associated with an online book store, and the merchantwebsite may provide a search and filter tool that enables the user tosubmit a request to view various books based on a first set ofcategories. The search and filter tool may be in the form of a textinput box where the user 140 may provide keywords (e.g., “programming,”“Java,” “C++,” etc.). The search and filter tool may also includeadditional filtering function based on criteria determined by themerchant website, such as a price range, a review score threshold, etc.The third-party server may generate displayable content that includesitems based on the first set of criteria provided by the user 140 andmay transmit the displayable content to the UI application 112 of theuser device 110.

Upon detecting the request, the plug-in application 116 may change fromoperating in an inactive state to operating in an active state.Specifically, when the UI application 112 receives the displayablecontent from the third-party server, the plug-in application 116 mayaccess the displayable content. The plug-in application 116 and/or thecontent modification module 132 may modify the displayable content basedon a second set of criteria that is determined based on the one or moregoals associated with the user account of the user 140. The second setof criteria is different from the first set of criteria used by thethird-party server to generate the displayable content. Since the secondset of criteria is not limited to the search category used by thethird-party server, but instead based on the goals associated with theuser account, the second set of criteria is more personal and relevantto the user 140. The plug-in application 116 may then cause the UIapplication 112 to present the modified displayable content on the userdevice 110.

For example, the plug-in application 116 may transmit the displayablecontent to the content modification module 132. Once the displayablecontent is obtained, the content scraping module 204 may parse thedisplayable content to determine a set of items included in thedisplayable content. In some embodiments, the content scraping module204 may determine an item category of the set of items included in thedisplayable content. Using the example described above where the websiteis an online merchant that sells books, and the user 140 used the searchtool of the website to search for books related to “programming,”“Java,” and “C++,” the displayable content may include various booksrelated to programming in general, related to Java programming language,and related to C++ programming language. However, some of the itemsincluded in the displayable content may not be relevant to the user 140based on the goals associated with the user account of the user 140 andthe progress of the user 140 toward those goals. For example, some ofthe items included in the displayable content, while related to“programming,” “Java,” and “C++” in general, may be too simple or tooadvanced for the user 140 based on the progress (or current proficiencylevel) of the user 140. Furthermore, the inclusion (and the order) ofthe items in the displayable content may not have taken into accountgoals provided by others for the user account, such as goals from theteam of the user 140 and goals from the organization of the user 140.

In some embodiments, the criteria determination module 206 may determinethe second set of criteria for modifying the displayable content basedon the goal(s) associated with the user account and the progress of theuser 140 toward the goal(s). The criteria determination module 206 mayaccess the goal(s) associated with the user account. For example, theuser account of the user 140 may be associated with a goal of “becomingmore proficient in programming” provided by the user 140, a goal of“becoming more proficient in Java” provided by the team of the user 140,and a goal of “becoming more proficient in cloud computing” provided bythe organization of the user 140.

In some embodiments, the criteria determination module 206 may determinea set of keywords based on the goal(s) associated with the user account.For example, the criteria determination module 206 may generate keywordsthat are relevant to the goal(s) associated with the user account. Thegoal synthesizing module 210 may determine priorities associated withthe goals based on different factors, such as the origin of the goals.As discussed herein, the criteria determination module 206 mayprioritize the goals. In some embodiments, the priority of the goals maybe determined based on the origin of the goals and/or user inputsobtained from the user 140. In the example described herein, the goal(s)provided by the organization of the user 140 may have a higher prioritythan the goal(s) provided by the team of the user 140, which in turn mayhave a higher priority than the goal(s) provided by the user 140. Evenamong the goals provided by the same entity, that entity may specifywhich goals have higher priority than the other goal(s). The criteriadetermination module 206 may the assign weights to the keywords based onwhich goal(s) the keywords are related. For example, a higher weight maybe assigned to a keyword that is related to a goal with a higherpriority than a keyword that is related to a goal with a lower priority.Furthermore, the criteria determination module 206 may increase theweight assigned to a keyword when the keyword is related to multiplegoals (e.g., combining the weights associated with the goals). The goalmanager 202 may then filter the items included in the displayablecontent based on the keywords generated by the criteria determinationmodule 206. The goal manager 202 may further compute a score for eachitem included in the displayable content based on the keyword(s) andrank the items based on the score.

In some embodiments, instead of a keyword approach, the criteriadetermination module 206 may generate a graph that connects the itemsincluded in the displayable content based on the hierarchy of the goalsassociated with the user account of the user 140. The criteriadetermination module 206 may first access the hierarchy of the goalsassociated with the user account and may generate the initial nodes ofthe graph based on the hierarch of the goals. FIG. 3 illustrates anexample graph 300 that is built based on three different goals, acorporate goal, a team goal, and a personal goal for the user account.As shown, the graph 300 includes a first layer of nodes for thedifferent entities that provided goals for the user account. The firstlayer of nodes includes a node 302 representing a corporation that theuser 140 works for, a node 304 representing a team that the user 140belongs to within the corporation, and a node 306 representing the user140. The directional connection between the nodes 302, 304, and 306indicate the hierarchy of the entities. In this example, the directionalconnection from the node 302 to the node 304 indicates that thecorporation is higher in the hierarchy than the team, and thedirectional connection from the node 304 to the node 306 indicates thatthe team is higher in the hierarchy than the user 140.

The criteria determination module 206 may also generate a second layerof nodes representing the goals provided by the entities. For example,the second layer of nodes includes a node 308 representing the goalprovided by the corporation (e.g., “cloud computing”), a node 310representing the goal provided by the team (e.g., “Java programming”),and a node 312 provided by the user 140 (e.g., “programming ingeneral”). In some embodiments, the criteria determination module 206may also determine connection(s) between the related goals. In thisexample, the criteria determination module 206 may determine that Javaprogramming is a subset of programming in general, and thus generate adirection connection from the node 312 to the node 310.

The criteria determination module 206 may then generate a third layer ofnodes representing the items included in the displayable content (and/oradditional items from the website). In some embodiments, the criteriadetermination module 206 may generate a node for each item from thewebsite. As shown, the criteria determination module 206 may generate anode 314 representing a book titled “Cloud 101,” a node 316 representinga book titled “Cloud for beginners,” a node 318 representing a booktitled “Advanced Cloud,” a node 320 representing a book titled “Java forthe Cloud,” a node 322 representing a book titled “Java 101,” a node 324representing a book titled “Python,” and a node 326 representing a booktitled “C++.” The criteria determination module 206 may also incorporateattributes of the item (e.g., descriptions, book title, author,publication date, etc.) into the corresponding node. The criteriadetermination module 206 may then connect each node representing an itemto one or more goals that are related to the item. For example, thecriteria determination module 206 may analyze each node (e.g., theattributes of the item) and determine whether the item would help theuser 140 in advancing toward any one of the goals. The criteriadetermination module 206 may determine whether the item would help theuser 140 in advancing a goal based on whether the attributes of the itemare relevant to the goal (e.g., whether the portion of the attributesrelated to the goal exceeds a threshold portion) and based on a progressof the user 140 toward the goal. For example, based on the book titleand description of the items represented by nodes 314-318, the criteriadetermination module 206 may determine that the three books representedby the nodes 314-318 are related to cloud computing. However, if thecriteria determination module 206 determines that the user 140 had noprior experience with cloud computing, the criteria determination module206 may determine that the nodes 314 and 316 are more relevant inadvancing toward the goal for being proficient in cloud computing forthe user 140 than the node 318. In some embodiments, the relevancy ofthe item toward a goal may be indicated by a weight of the connection(e.g., thickness of the connection), such that a thicker connectionbetween an item and a goal indicates a stronger relevancy and a thinnerconnection between an item and a goal indicates a weaker relevancy.

The criteria determination module 206 may continue to connect the nodesrepresenting the items and the goals until all of the nodes representingthe items have been analyzed. The goal manager 202 may then rank theitems based on the connections between the items and the goal(s). Forexample, the goal manager 202 may determine a combined weight for anitem by adding the weights of each connection between the item and agoal and may rank the nodes based on the combined weights. In thisexample, the item titled “Java for the Cloud” represented by the node320 may have the highest ranking since the item is connected to allthree goals represented by the nodes 308-312.

Once the items have been analyzed, filtered, and ranked, the goalmanager 202 may modify the displayable content obtained from thethird-party server. In some embodiments, the goal manager 202 may filterthe items in the displayable content based on the relevancy towardachieving the goals of the user account. For example, the goal manager202 may filter the items based on the ranking (e.g., filter out itemsbelow a predetermined ranking). The goal manager 202 may then modify thedisplayable content by highlighting those items within the displayablecontent (e.g., inserting a marker such as a star next to each of theitems that are not filtered out, etc.). In some embodiments, the goalmanager 202 may re-arrange the items included in the displayable contentbased on their ranking. Thus, the goal manager 202 arrange the itemsthat rank higher to appear higher (e.g., at the top) than items thatrank lower in the displayable content.

In some embodiments, the goal manager 202 may retrieve additional itemsto be added to the displayable content. For example, the third-partywebsite may obtain, based on the first set of criteria, a set of itemsas the search result. The third-party website may be configured todisplay a limited number of items (e.g., 20, 40, etc.) at a time, whichcan be based on the type of user device or screen size, and the user 140may view additional items by browsing to another webpage of thethird-party website. For example, the displayable content obtained bythe user device 110 from the third-party server may only include asubset of the set of items. The goal manager 202 may detect thatadditional items may be obtained from another webpage of the third-partywebsite (e.g., a next webpage) by selecting a button (e.g., a link)corresponding to the next webpage based on parsing the displayablecontent. The goal manager 202 may use the link to obtain the nextwebpage. The content scraping module 204 may extract the additionalitems from the next webpage and provide the additional items to the goalmanager 220. In some embodiments, the goal manager 202 and the contentscraping module 204 may continue to traverse the webpages to extract allof the items from the search result of the third-party website. The goalmanager 202 and/or the criteria determination module 206 may rank all ofthe items based on the second set of criteria and may re-arrange theitems in the displayable content based on the ranking. Since some of thehigh-ranking items may be items not from the first webpage (e.g., thedisplayable content), but from subsequent webpages, of the third-partywebsite, the goal manager 202 may add items from the subsequent webpagesto the displayable content (and may remove some of the low-ranking itemsfrom the displayable content) before presenting the displayable contenton the user device 110.

In some embodiments, in addition to highlighting and/or ranking theitems, the goal manager 202 may indicate a path toward advancing towarda particular goal for the user 140. For example, when the goal isbecoming proficient in cloud computing, the goal manager 202 may selectitems (e.g., books, training materials, etc.) related to cloudcomputing, such as the books represented by the nodes 314-318. However,those items on Java programming may not have the same relevancy to theuser as they may target viewers at different proficiency levels in cloudcomputing. Thus, the goal manager 202 may determine an order of theseitems based on the progress of the user 140 toward the goal (asdetermined by the progress determination module 208), and attributes ofthe items. For example, the goal manager 202 may determine, based on theattributes of the items, that order of advancements for the items arefirst, the book titled “Cloud for Beginners” represented by the node316, then the book titled “Cloud 101” represented by the node 314, andthen the book titled “Advanced Cloud” represented by the node 318. Thus,while the items represented by the nodes 314, 316, and 318 all have thesame relevancy for the user 140 (all of these items are associated withthe corporate goal of becoming proficient in cloud computing), the goalmanager may order the items in the order of advancement, such that theuser 140 would understand which item the user 140 should obtain first,and other related items that the user 140 should obtain in the future.

The goal manager 202 may transmit the modified displayable content tothe plug-in application 116, and the plug-in application 116 may causethe UI application 112 to present the modified displayable content onthe user interface of the user device 110. In some embodiments, afterobtaining the displayable content, the plug-in application 116 maywithhold the displayable content from the UI application 112 such thatthe UI application does not present the displayable content until thedisplayable content has been modified by the content modification module132. In some embodiments, the UI application 112 may present theoriginal displayable content, and the plug-in application 116 may causethe UI application 112 to subsequently replace the displayable contentwith the modified displayable content.

FIG. 4 illustrates a process 400 for dynamically modifying third-partycontent according to various embodiments of the disclosure. In someembodiments, at least a portion of the process 400 may be performed bythe plug-in application 116 and/or the content modification module 132.The process 400 may begin by detecting (at step 405) a content requestmade by an application (or app) of a user device using a first set ofcriteria. For example, the user 140 may use the UI application 112 ofthe user device 110 to search for items (e.g., food products, books,etc.) on a third-party website (e.g., a merchant website associated withthe merchant server 120). The first set of criteria may be determinedbased on interactions between the user 140 and the third-party website.The UI application may transmit a request (e.g., HTTP request) whichincludes the first set of criteria to the merchant server 120. Theplug-in application 116 may continuously monitor the activities of theUI application 112 and may detect that a request with the first set ofcriteria is being transmitted to the merchant server 120. The merchantserver 120 may query a database (e.g., the database 124) based on thefirst set of criteria and may generate displayable content (e.g., awebpage) that includes items retrieved from the database 124 based onthe first set of criteria. The merchant server 120 may transmit thedisplayable content to the user device 110 in response to the contentrequest.

The process 400 then obtains (at step 410) displayable content from athird-party server. For example, after detecting the content request,the plug-in application 116 may monitor content that is received at theuser device 110 and may obtain the displayable content from the merchantserver 120. The process 400 determines (at step 415) a second set ofcriteria based on a goal hierarchy and a progress of a user toward thegoals. For example, the goal synthesizing module 210 may synthesizedifferent goals associated with the user account of the user 140. Thedifferent goals may be provided by different entities, such as the user140, a team to which the user 140 belong, an organization where the user140 works, a family member of the user 140, etc. The goal synthesizingmodule 210 may prioritize the goals based on the origin of the goals.For example, the goal synthesizing module 210 may prioritize thecorporate goal(s) from the corporation over the team goal(s) from theteam and may prioritize the team goal(s) from the team over the personalgoal(s) from the user 140. The goal synthesizing module 210 may alsogenerate a hierarchy of goals based on the prioritization.

In some embodiments, the criteria determination module 206 may determineweights associate with each goal. The criteria determination module 206may also determine keywords associated with the goals and may assignweights to the keywords based on which goal the keywords are related.For example, when a keyword is related to a first goal, the criteriadetermination module 206 may assign the weight associated with the firstgoal to the keyword. If the keyword is also related to a second goal,the criteria determination module 206 may add the weight associated withthe second goal to the weight of the keyword.

In some embodiments, the criteria determination module 206 may generatea connected graph (e.g., the graph 300 in FIG. 3 ) that links goals toitems included in the displayable content using techniques discussedherein. The graph 300 may indicate a connectedness between each item toone or more goals. Using the keywords or the graph, the goal manager 202may rank the items in the displayable content based on the second set ofcriteria. In some embodiments, the goal manager 202 may retrieveadditional items (e.g., other items that the merchant server 120 hasretrieved from the database 124 but are not included in the displayablecontent) from the third party server and may rank the items in thedisplayable content and also the additional items together.

The process 400 then modifies (at step 420) the displayable contentbased on the second set of criteria and causes (at step 425) the app todisplay the modified displayable content on the user device. Forexample, the goal manager 202 may modify the items in the displayablecontent (e.g., re-arranging the order, removing some items, addingadditional items, etc.) based on the ranking of the items. The goalmanager 202 may transmit the modified displayable content to the plug-inapplication 116. Upon receiving the modified displayable content, theplug-in application 116 may cause the UI application 112 to present themodified displayable content (e.g., through an application programminginterface of the UI application 112).

In the description above, the plug-in application 116 is described asseparate from the modules within the content modification module 132.However, in some embodiments, one or more modules (e.g., the goalmanager 202, the content scraping module 204, the criteria determinationmodule 206, the progress determination module 208, and the goalsynthesizing module 210) may be incorporated into the plug-inapplication 116 such that some of the functionalities of the contentmodification system may be performed locally in the user device 110.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a computer system 500 suitable forimplementing one or more embodiments of the present disclosure,including the service provider server 130, the merchant server 120, andthe user devices 110, 180, and 190. In various implementations, each ofthe user devices 110, 180, and 190 may include a mobile cellular phone,personal computer (PC), laptop, wearable computing device, etc. adaptedfor wireless communication, and each of the service provider server 130and the merchant server 120 may include a network computing device, suchas a server. Thus, it should be appreciated that the devices 110, 120,130, 180, and 190 may be implemented as the computer system 500 in amanner as follows.

The computer system 500 includes a bus 512 or other communicationmechanism for communicating information data, signals, and informationbetween various components of the computer system 500. The componentsinclude an input/output (I/O) component 504 that processes a user (i.e.,sender, recipient, service provider) action, such as selecting keys froma keypad/keyboard, selecting one or more buttons or links, etc., andsends a corresponding signal to the bus 512. The I/O component 504 mayalso include an output component, such as a display 502 and a cursorcontrol 508 (such as a keyboard, keypad, mouse, etc.). The display 502may be configured to present a login page for logging into a useraccount or a checkout page for purchasing an item from a merchant. Anoptional audio input/output component 506 may also be included to allowa user to use voice for inputting information by converting audiosignals. The audio I/O component 506 may allow the user to hear audio. Atransceiver or network interface 520 transmits and receives signalsbetween the computer system 500 and other devices, such as another userdevice, a merchant server, or a service provider server via a network522, such as network 160 of FIG. 1 . In one embodiment, the transmissionis wireless, although other transmission mediums and methods may also besuitable. A processor 514, which can be a micro-controller, digitalsignal processor (DSP), or other processing component, processes thesevarious signals, such as for display on the computer system 500 ortransmission to other devices via a communication link 524. Theprocessor 514 may also control transmission of information, such ascookies or IP addresses, to other devices.

The components of the computer system 500 also include a system memorycomponent 510 (e.g., RAM), a static storage component 516 (e.g., ROM),and/or a disk drive 518 (e.g., a solid-state drive, a hard drive). Thecomputer system 500 performs specific operations by the processor 514and other components by executing one or more sequences of instructionscontained in the system memory component 510. For example, the processor514 can perform the content modification functionalities describedherein according to the process 400.

Logic may be encoded in a computer readable medium, which may refer toany medium that participates in providing instructions to the processor514 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but notlimited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.In various implementations, non-volatile media includes optical ormagnetic disks, volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as thesystem memory component 510, and transmission media includes coaxialcables, copper wire, and fiber optics, including wires that comprise thebus 512. In one embodiment, the logic is encoded in non-transitorycomputer readable medium. In one example, transmission media may takethe form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated duringradio wave, optical, and infrared data communications.

Some common forms of computer readable media include, for example,floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magneticmedium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, anyother physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM,FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other mediumfrom which a computer is adapted to read.

In various embodiments of the present disclosure, execution ofinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure may beperformed by the computer system 500. In various other embodiments ofthe present disclosure, a plurality of computer systems 500 coupled bythe communication link 524 to the network (e.g., such as a LAN, WLAN,PTSN, and/or various other wired or wireless networks, includingtelecommunications, mobile, and cellular phone networks) may performinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure in coordinationwith one another.

Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosuremay be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardwareand software. Also, where applicable, the various hardware componentsand/or software components set forth herein may be combined intocomposite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both withoutdeparting from the spirit of the present disclosure. Where applicable,the various hardware components and/or software components set forthherein may be separated into sub-components comprising software,hardware, or both without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated thatsoftware components may be implemented as hardware components andvice-versa.

Software in accordance with the present disclosure, such as program codeand/or data, may be stored on one or more computer readable mediums. Itis also contemplated that software identified herein may be implementedusing one or more general purpose or specific purpose computers and/orcomputer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Where applicable, theordering of various steps described herein may be changed, combined intocomposite steps, and/or separated into sub-steps to provide featuresdescribed herein.

The various features and steps described herein may be implemented assystems comprising one or more memories storing various informationdescribed herein and one or more processors coupled to the one or morememories and a network, wherein the one or more processors are operableto perform steps as described herein, as non-transitory machine-readablemedium comprising a plurality of machine-readable instructions which,when executed by one or more processors, are adapted to cause the one ormore processors to perform a method comprising steps described herein,and methods performed by one or more devices, such as a hardwareprocessor, user device, server, and other devices described herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a non-transitory memory;and one or more hardware processors coupled with the non-transitorymemory and configured to read instructions from the non-transitorymemory to cause the system to perform operations comprising: obtainingdisplayable content transmitted to a user device from a third-partyserver, wherein the displayable content is transmitted from thethird-party server in response to a content request made via anapplication of the user device based on a first set of criteria, andwherein the displayable content comprises a plurality of items relatedto a particular subject matter; determining an objective of the userwith respect to the particular subject matter, wherein the objective isassociated with a set of metrics; determining a level of progression ofthe user toward the objective with respect to the particular subjectmatter according to the set of metrics based on a consumption history ofthe user related to the particular subject matter; determining a secondset of criteria based on the objective and the level of progression ofthe user; modifying the displayable content based on the second set ofcriteria, wherein the modifying comprises eliminating one or more itemsfrom the plurality of items; and causing the application to present themodified displayable content on the user device.
 2. The system of claim1, wherein the objective is associated with a maximum amount of aquantifiable object for the user, and wherein the determining the levelof progression comprises determining an available amount of thequantifiable object remaining for the user based on a consumed amount ofthe quantifiable object associated with the user and the maximum amount.3. The system of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprisedetermining biometric information associated with the user, wherein atleast one of the maximum amount or the consumed amount is determinedbased on the biometric information.
 4. The system of claim 2, whereinthe second set of criteria is determined further based on the availableamount of the quantifiable object remaining for the user.
 5. The systemof claim 2, wherein the objective is health-related, and wherein thequantifiable object is related to a health-metric.
 6. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the modifying the displayable content comprises:selecting, from the plurality of items, a subset of items that satisfiesthe second set of criteria; and modifying a display of the subset ofitems.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the application is a browserapplication, and wherein the obtaining the displayable content and themodifying the displayable content are performed by a plug-in of thebrowser application executed on the user device.
 8. A method comprising:obtaining, by one or more hardware processors, displayable contenttransmitted to a user device from a third-party server, wherein thedisplayable content is transmitted from the third-party server inresponse to a content request made via an application of the user devicebased on a first set of criteria, and wherein the displayable contentcomprises a plurality of items; determining an objective of the user,wherein the objective is associated with a set of metrics; determining alevel of progression of the user toward the objective according to theset of metrics based on information associated with the user;determining a second set of criteria based on the objective and thelevel of progression of the user; modifying, by the one or more hardwareprocessors, the displayable content based on the second set of criteria;and causing, by the one or more hardware processors, the application topresent the modified displayable content on the user device.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the user is a first user, wherein theobjective is a first objective, wherein the first user is linked to asecond objective specified by a second user, and wherein the methodfurther comprises: synthesizing the first objective and the secondobjective, wherein the second set of criteria is determined furtherbased on the synthesized first and second objectives.
 10. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the synthesizing the first objective and the secondobjective comprises: assigning a first weight to the first objective;and assigning a second weight to the second objective, wherein thesecond set of criteria is determined further based on the first weightand the second weight.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the pluralityof items is arranged according to a first arrangement based on the firstset of criteria, and wherein the modifying the displayable contentcomprises: determining that the plurality of items comprises a firstitem related to the first objective and a second item related to thesecond objective; and re-arranging the plurality of items according to asecond arrangement based on the second set of criteria, wherein thesecond item is arranged in a higher position on a display of the userdevice than the first item based on the second weight being greater thanthe first weight.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein the synthesizingthe first objective and the second objective comprises determining acommon attribute between the first object and the second objective, andwherein the second set of criteria is determined further based on thecommon attribute.
 13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:selecting, among the plurality of items, a subset of items associatedwith advancing toward the objective for the user; and determining anorder for the subset of items based on an advancement toward theobjective, wherein the modifying the displayable content is furtherbased on the order.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the modifieddisplayable content indicates the order for the subset of items.
 15. Anon-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereonmachine-readable instructions executable to cause a machine to performoperations comprising: determining that displayable content has beentransmitted to a user device from a third-party server based on acontent request made via an application of the user device, wherein thecontent request is associated with a first set of criteria, and whereinthe displayable content comprises a plurality of items related to aparticular subject matter; determining an objective of the user withrespect to the particular subject matter, wherein the objective isassociated with a set of metrics; determining a level of progression ofthe user toward the objective with respect to the particular subjectmatter according to the set of metrics based on a consumption history ofthe user related to the particular subject matter; determining a secondset of criteria based on the objective and the level of progression ofthe user; modifying the displayable content based on the second set ofcriteria; and causing the application to present the modifieddisplayable content on the user device.
 16. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the objective is anacademic objective, and wherein the consumption history is a contentconsumption history of the user.
 17. The non-transitory machine-readablemedium of claim 15, wherein the objective is a health objective, andwherein the consumption history is a food consumption history of theuser.
 18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15,wherein the objective is associated with a quota, and wherein thedetermining the level of progression comprises determining an availableunit remaining for the user based on a consumed value associated withthe user and the quota.
 19. The non-transitory machine-readable mediumof claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise determiningbiometric information associated with the user, wherein at least one ofthe quota or the consumed value is determined based on the biometricinformation.
 20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18,wherein the second set of criteria is determined further based on theavailable unit remaining for the user.